Saw our first chestnut-sided warbler of the season today out the dining room window. It was hopping around in the oak.
The chicks are getting bigger and more adventurous, but still huddle with each other for safety and comfort. The chickens generally ignore them. The rooster, Don Juan, however, doesn't seem to care much for these little invaders.
Jami recommended the farm collies site to us, and we're thinking hard about getting one for protection of livestock and the boys. It's good to have knowledgeable friends who are into similar things. We're not really huge dog fans, but if the farm collies are as intelligent and hard working as they say, even I could become a dog lover.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Monday, May 22, 2006
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Think before I speak
I have to either learn to do that or just not talk much. Hm, maybe the latter is easier.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Mother's Day and flowers
Here's a great article from the NY Times about the scary truth behind the flowers that get sent on Mother's Day (and other times of the year). I hope it's ok to post it here since I'm not making money from this:
May 14, 2006 - Op-Ed Contributor
Pick Your Poison By AMY STEWART
Eureka, Calif.
WHEN I send a bouquet to my mother on the second Sunday in May, I'm motivated by this familiar scene from childhood: Mom walking in the door at the end of the day, paperwork spilling out of her briefcase, her feet aching to get out of high-heeled shoes and her mind already turning to what she could cook for dinner. She worked a series of difficult jobs that she didn't particularly like to help keep food on the table. For that, she gets flowers.
This annual floral tradition — one that I participate in along with roughly half of all Mother's Day shoppers, bringing in about $1.98 billion to American flower shops — was fairly uncomplicated until I started wondering about the women who might harvest those flowers. The question of where and how our flowers are grown raises all sorts of thorny issues for consumers. But today I've sent my mother a bouquet that doesn't come at the expense of someone else's mother, working under much worse conditions and for much less pay.
Of the roughly four billion stems we buy each year, 78 percent are imported, mostly from Latin America. One impetus for moving cut flower production to countries like Colombia and allowing the flowers to be shipped to the United States tariff-free was a misguided hope that such projects would provide an alternative to coca production.
While the drug war rages on, serious labor and environmental problems associated with floriculture have now moved south of the border. Imported flowers can't show any signs of bugs and fungus when they arrive at Miami International Airport for inspection. In their eagerness to make sure that their flowers pass muster, many growers in Latin America douse their crops in agricultural chemicals that are banned or severely restricted here at home.
On a flower farm in Ecuador, I saw workers dunk bunches of roses, blossom-first, into a barrel of fungicide just before shipment. The stench was so overpowering that I had to resist the urge to run outside for air. Chemicals dripped off the flowers, they sloshed on the floor and it seemed impossible that the workers — almost all women — could get through the day without getting covered in them, too.
In addition to the health hazards that such chemicals pose, the runoff of pesticides and fertilizers into streams and aquifers threatens already fragile water resources. This has prompted agencies like Canada's International Development Research Center to invest in long-term projects to study the extent to which these chemicals persist in the environment. All this for a flower? When I watched Ecuadorean workers move through a field of baby's breath — a filler that is nothing but an afterthought in most arrangements — dressed in full protective gear to shield themselves from chemicals, I realized that something had gone horribly wrong with the Mother's Day bouquet. I couldn't stomach the idea of buying those flowers for my mom. But until recently, there weren't many alternatives.
One is the new VeriFlora label, which establishes sustainable agriculture and labor standards for flowers grown anywhere in the world for sale in the United States. Two farms in California and two in Latin America have been certified so far, representing about 250 million stems per year that enlightened consumers can send their mothers. Some of those flowers are organic, and others are grown using the least toxic methods available with a commitment to move to organic practices eventually. All growers are monitored for compliance with local labor laws.
So where are these eco-label flowers? Good question. I've asked dozens of florists why they don't offer organic or certified flowers, and every one of them told me that their customers haven't asked for them. Some didn't want to call the rest of their flowers into question by offering socially responsible bouquets as well. But organic and conventional products are sold side by side in grocery stores; there's no reason flowers should be different.
It's a vicious cycle. Growers won't participate in the program unless they see a market for certified flowers. Retailers won't stock them unless their customers demand them.
And although shoppers might prefer "green" bouquets if they saw them, they can hardly be blamed for not asking for them.
Try this experiment: Call your florist and say that you'd like a dozen pesticide-free roses delivered to your mother. Explain that you also want an assurance that the woman who picked them wasn't forced to work unpaid overtime or take her children to work to help her meet her quotas.
Silence? Yeah, that's the response my florist gave, too. But my mother didn't raise a shrinking violet. I said that I would find certified flowers somewhere, and eventually I did. Mom, your roses are coming from an Internet florist that sells only organic bouquets. I don't know what the woman who picked them will do with her day off, but at least I know that she gets a day off. I wish a happy Mother's Day to both of you.
Amy Stewart is the author of the forthcoming "Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers."
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
May 14, 2006 - Op-Ed Contributor
Pick Your Poison By AMY STEWART
Eureka, Calif.
WHEN I send a bouquet to my mother on the second Sunday in May, I'm motivated by this familiar scene from childhood: Mom walking in the door at the end of the day, paperwork spilling out of her briefcase, her feet aching to get out of high-heeled shoes and her mind already turning to what she could cook for dinner. She worked a series of difficult jobs that she didn't particularly like to help keep food on the table. For that, she gets flowers.
This annual floral tradition — one that I participate in along with roughly half of all Mother's Day shoppers, bringing in about $1.98 billion to American flower shops — was fairly uncomplicated until I started wondering about the women who might harvest those flowers. The question of where and how our flowers are grown raises all sorts of thorny issues for consumers. But today I've sent my mother a bouquet that doesn't come at the expense of someone else's mother, working under much worse conditions and for much less pay.
Of the roughly four billion stems we buy each year, 78 percent are imported, mostly from Latin America. One impetus for moving cut flower production to countries like Colombia and allowing the flowers to be shipped to the United States tariff-free was a misguided hope that such projects would provide an alternative to coca production.
While the drug war rages on, serious labor and environmental problems associated with floriculture have now moved south of the border. Imported flowers can't show any signs of bugs and fungus when they arrive at Miami International Airport for inspection. In their eagerness to make sure that their flowers pass muster, many growers in Latin America douse their crops in agricultural chemicals that are banned or severely restricted here at home.
On a flower farm in Ecuador, I saw workers dunk bunches of roses, blossom-first, into a barrel of fungicide just before shipment. The stench was so overpowering that I had to resist the urge to run outside for air. Chemicals dripped off the flowers, they sloshed on the floor and it seemed impossible that the workers — almost all women — could get through the day without getting covered in them, too.
In addition to the health hazards that such chemicals pose, the runoff of pesticides and fertilizers into streams and aquifers threatens already fragile water resources. This has prompted agencies like Canada's International Development Research Center to invest in long-term projects to study the extent to which these chemicals persist in the environment. All this for a flower? When I watched Ecuadorean workers move through a field of baby's breath — a filler that is nothing but an afterthought in most arrangements — dressed in full protective gear to shield themselves from chemicals, I realized that something had gone horribly wrong with the Mother's Day bouquet. I couldn't stomach the idea of buying those flowers for my mom. But until recently, there weren't many alternatives.
One is the new VeriFlora label, which establishes sustainable agriculture and labor standards for flowers grown anywhere in the world for sale in the United States. Two farms in California and two in Latin America have been certified so far, representing about 250 million stems per year that enlightened consumers can send their mothers. Some of those flowers are organic, and others are grown using the least toxic methods available with a commitment to move to organic practices eventually. All growers are monitored for compliance with local labor laws.
So where are these eco-label flowers? Good question. I've asked dozens of florists why they don't offer organic or certified flowers, and every one of them told me that their customers haven't asked for them. Some didn't want to call the rest of their flowers into question by offering socially responsible bouquets as well. But organic and conventional products are sold side by side in grocery stores; there's no reason flowers should be different.
It's a vicious cycle. Growers won't participate in the program unless they see a market for certified flowers. Retailers won't stock them unless their customers demand them.
And although shoppers might prefer "green" bouquets if they saw them, they can hardly be blamed for not asking for them.
Try this experiment: Call your florist and say that you'd like a dozen pesticide-free roses delivered to your mother. Explain that you also want an assurance that the woman who picked them wasn't forced to work unpaid overtime or take her children to work to help her meet her quotas.
Silence? Yeah, that's the response my florist gave, too. But my mother didn't raise a shrinking violet. I said that I would find certified flowers somewhere, and eventually I did. Mom, your roses are coming from an Internet florist that sells only organic bouquets. I don't know what the woman who picked them will do with her day off, but at least I know that she gets a day off. I wish a happy Mother's Day to both of you.
Amy Stewart is the author of the forthcoming "Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers."
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Poor Honey
My friend Grace's chicken, Honey, was attacked in the middle of the night by something that left a grisly scene for poor Grace to deal with the next day. Honey, whom we owned previously - and named Vivaci - but had given her to Grace & family because our chickens didn't accept her (even the rooster pecked at her viciously...very strange), was a very sweet and personable hen.
So, here's my epitaph for her:
Here lies Honey
Her life wasn't easy
But her disposition was
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
So, here's my epitaph for her:
Here lies Honey
Her life wasn't easy
But her disposition was
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
A bird in plain view...
...is worth two in the bush, or other leafy, brushy undergrowth.
We spotted a couple of yellow-throated warblers a couple of days ago. A wood thrush came really close to our house today. Didn't see it, but heard it plainly.
A non-feathered friend also came a little too close to the house: a coyote howled right out in the front yard somewhere last night. I adore coyotes, but not up close and personal.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
We spotted a couple of yellow-throated warblers a couple of days ago. A wood thrush came really close to our house today. Didn't see it, but heard it plainly.
A non-feathered friend also came a little too close to the house: a coyote howled right out in the front yard somewhere last night. I adore coyotes, but not up close and personal.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
The greenhouse effect
We ordered a greenhouse which arrived last Wednesday. A friend e-mailed on Sunday and asked how putting it up went. Dh and I thought that was very funny since the contents were all still sitting in the assorted boxes in exactly the same position as we'd left them when they came out of the freight delivery truck.
Dh finally got the base connected today, but it'll take a while to level out the ground where it'll go before we can proceed further. How exciting to have yet another big project for us to procrastinate on.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Dh finally got the base connected today, but it'll take a while to level out the ground where it'll go before we can proceed further. How exciting to have yet another big project for us to procrastinate on.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Sunday, May 07, 2006
New chicks, lame junco
We acquired 3 new chicks from Jo in our homeschool group on Friday. They're all black australorps and about a month old. Very cute. She says they've been pecking at each other and 3 out of the 6 have died, but they've been docile since they've been here, eating lots and peeping seemingly contentedly (or as contentedly as babies without mothers can be).
I hope they (or at least two of them, since our friend Grace wants one of them to go with her other two layers) will do well with our other chickens.
We'll give them a week and see how they do before naming them. We may name one of them Vivaci II (in honor of our other australorp Vivaci, who has since been re-named Honey by Grace because it is now living with her family). Ds#1 named Viv. I like that "Vivaci" has a lithe and pretty ring to it.
Oops, forgot about writing about the lame dark-eyed junco...which alas, by Sunday (May 7th) was no longer seen around our property. To see a photo of it, go to http://geocities.com/stbgr/junco
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
I hope they (or at least two of them, since our friend Grace wants one of them to go with her other two layers) will do well with our other chickens.
We'll give them a week and see how they do before naming them. We may name one of them Vivaci II (in honor of our other australorp Vivaci, who has since been re-named Honey by Grace because it is now living with her family). Ds#1 named Viv. I like that "Vivaci" has a lithe and pretty ring to it.
Oops, forgot about writing about the lame dark-eyed junco...which alas, by Sunday (May 7th) was no longer seen around our property. To see a photo of it, go to http://geocities.com/stbgr/junco
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Yellow-breasted chat, Eastern phoebe babies
We saw a couple a few days back, and dh heard it too, but I just heard my FOS tonight. The sound is so summer: deedeedeedeedeedeedeedeedee---chirp!
The phoebe eggs appear to have hatched - now instead of my scaring the female off every time I poke my head out the back door, I see the 2 adults busily flying to and from the nest.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
The phoebe eggs appear to have hatched - now instead of my scaring the female off every time I poke my head out the back door, I see the 2 adults busily flying to and from the nest.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Crazy Northern Cardinal
She's baaaack! Apparently, she spent the winter over at our neighbors' house, driving them crazy, and now she's back - pecking at all our windows, starting bright and early in the morning.
We had a grand total of 5 male rose-breasted grosbeaks and 3 white-crowned sparrows at our feeders yesterday. That's a greater number than the previous years'.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
We had a grand total of 5 male rose-breasted grosbeaks and 3 white-crowned sparrows at our feeders yesterday. That's a greater number than the previous years'.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Ick
This morning, an Eastern kingbird bashed into our window. Luckily, he's looking fairly perky after 15 minutes of sitting in the grass panting. And, oh, in fact, he's gone now.
Then, I saw a robin eating what looked like excrement from its nest. I take it there are babies in there now. I can't get a high enough vantage point to see inside.
Seems like all the birds except our domesticated ones are producing offsprings.
---------
Another bird accident ended happily this afternoon. As we were eating dinner (and listening to Assassination Vacation), a blue-winged warbler bashed into the window of our front door. It sat, stunned, on our deck, where I had a perfect view of it, for about 10 minutes, but then hopped up and flew off.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Then, I saw a robin eating what looked like excrement from its nest. I take it there are babies in there now. I can't get a high enough vantage point to see inside.
Seems like all the birds except our domesticated ones are producing offsprings.
---------
Another bird accident ended happily this afternoon. As we were eating dinner (and listening to Assassination Vacation), a blue-winged warbler bashed into the window of our front door. It sat, stunned, on our deck, where I had a perfect view of it, for about 10 minutes, but then hopped up and flew off.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
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